[Review] Moonlight: Don't Be Afraid to Be Different
La La Land, widely considered a strong contender for Best Picture at the Oscars, premiered in Hong Kong last month to widespread acclaim. Now, another strong contender, Moonlight, the best-reviewed film in the US last year, has finally opened in Hong Kong. Will it receive similar attention?
Many people feel that Moonlight won the favor of critics and garnered so many awards and nominations due to its politically correct elements: being Black, homosexual, from a single-parent family, having a drug-addicted mother, and issues of identity... But what I found most captivating was its delicate and moving coming-of-age story. The film is structured in a traditional three-act format, depicting three stages of Chiron's growth: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In each growth period, the film primarily narrates Chiron's interactions and conversations with his mother, Paula (played by Naomie Harris), and his best friend, Kevin. I've read several reviews that noted similarities in this narrative structure to Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Three Times from over a decade ago, but I haven't seen that film yet, so I'll find out next month when I watch it. While watching this film, I was reminded of another movie: last year's Steve Jobs, both works exploring the protagonist's transformation through narratives of their interactions with family and friends across three distinct periods.
The past two years saw no Black actors nominated for Oscar acting awards, leading to criticism of unfairness towards Black people and other people of color. This year's Oscars finally have several actors nominated. Some attribute this to reforms within the Academy, but I believe it's more due to production companies being willing to invest in and greenlight films about Black people, providing more acting opportunities for them. Taking classic LGBTQ+ films as examples, we've seen Happy Together for Chinese men, Brokeback Mountain for white men, and Carol for white women. This time, Moonlight showcases the growth process of a Black gay man, which is quite a fresh perspective, allowing the public to understand how the experience of Black gay men differs from other similar stories. However, the most moving aspect of the film isn't Chiron and Kevin's romance, but Chiron's journey of self-exploration and growth as an outsider, filled with struggle.
In the film, Chiron is a different kind of boy from a young age: he doesn't like participating in close-contact ball sports, preferring instead to dance freely. His gentle, quiet nature also leads him to be seen as an outsider by peers, subjected to exclusion and bullying, even being called a "faggot," a derogatory term for homosexuals. At this time, he meets a figure who is like a father to him, Juan. Although Juan is a drug dealer, he cares deeply for Chiron and tells him to decide for himself who he wants to be, not to be influenced by others. This might seem like a cliché to us: to be true to oneself, not to lose one's true self on the path of growing up. However, the film explores a deeper concept: society's common stereotypes of male masculinity. Through Chiron's coming-of-age story, the film depicts how a more sensitive and gay-leaning male grows up under societal scrutiny and oppression, and how he comes to understand and face his true self.
Of course, Chiron's story is not a smooth one: he has to face the family pressure of a drug-addicted mother, and on the other hand, he is bullied by his peers. As a result, in an attempt to assert his masculinity, he is arrested and imprisoned during a retaliation. In prison, influenced by his environment, he is forced to become outwardly strong and tough, even becoming a dealer like Juan. At this point, the film seems to suggest that Chiron is ultimately forced to become another person due to societal pressure and environmental factors. However, in the final segment, facing his lifelong best friend Kevin, he is still able to confess his love, proving that no matter how much he changes, he remains true to his feelings, and the person he loves remains the same.
Undeniably, the film's pace is quite slow, but as long as the audience immerses themselves in Chiron's situation and emotions, they will undoubtedly be deeply moved by this film. Especially between each growth stage, the film does not detail Chiron's experiences during those periods, leaving it like a blank space, allowing the audience to ponder and imagine Chiron's experiences and circumstances. The film's ending is also very understated. Chiron's single line, "I haven't touched another person in all these years," confesses his many years of love for Kevin and shows that Chiron finally confronts himself, which is incredibly romantic and touching.
Because the film takes place across three time periods, Chiron and Kevin are each portrayed by three different actors. Chiron's mother, Paula, is played by Naomie Harris across all three periods, and she delivers outstanding performances during her drug addiction phase and later, her remorseful moments after recovery. What surprised me greatly was that Mahershala Ali, widely considered a strong contender for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, only appears in one segment of the film, with not much screen time. However, he portrays Chiron's experienced mentor, a drug dealer who nonetheless shows immense care for Chiron, and his portrayal of conflict and guilt in the final segment is very well done.
The film's cinematography and score are particularly noteworthy. In the scene with young Chiron in the ocean, the camera floats with the waves, accompanied by dramatic string music, seemingly illustrating Chiron's life, which must be influenced by his surroundings, drifting with the currents. Additionally, influenced by the "moonlight" element, the film consistently uses a blue color palette. Besides making the Black protagonists appear to emit a beautiful blue glow, this cool color remarkably looks warm and humane. At the same time, the film's score is very diverse, ranging from soft orchestral pieces to rhythmic string compositions, to more modern tunes in the later stages; they all complement the film's narrative and visuals, deepening the emotions.
In the final scene, young Chiron stands under the moonlight, radiating a captivating blue glow, as if telling us: everyone's story is different, and the light they emit is also different; never be afraid to be different. I wonder what your story is like?